As the bell at the Pike County courthouse mournfully tolled the news that convicted state police killer Eric Frein had been sentenced to death, onlookers cheered and applauded.

The human and financial toll that Frein's lone-wolf actions have caused are staggering. Three families directly involved will never be the same. Scores more have been indirectly affected by Frein's misguided, otherworldly political philosophy and his callous disregard for the consequences of his actions.First, of course, is the widow of slain trooper Cpl. Bryon Dickson, who was gunned down as he was wrapping up his shift at the Blooming Grove state police barracks on Sept. 12, 2014, and her family.In her testimony during the trial, tears flowed as Tiffany Dickson related the impact of what happened to her and her children in the aftermath of her husband's killing.She described the pain and struggles that she and her boys have endured in the two-year lead-up to the three-week trial heard by a jury made up of residents of Chester County in suburban Philadelphia. She described to the jurors how her older son experienced such grief that he had to be heavily medicated and sedated."He screams that he wants to die; he wants to die to be with daddy," Dickson testified.As for herself, Dickson said when she is at home alone, she is overwhelmed by grief."It's sad and lonely," she said. "There's nobody to hold me, no one to help me. I don't have a break. I'm just really tired. And I don't get to grow old with him. There is no more Tiffany Dickson," she said, sobbing quietly.Also impacted significantly are trooper Alex Douglass, who was seriously wounded by Frein as Douglass attempted to help his fellow trooper, and his family. Douglass has gone through numerous surgeries and continues to undergo rehabilitation. He said he still suffers from excruciating pain.And then there is the Frein family, which has been devastated by Eric Frein's actions and has left members as pariahs in their own community. The defense team and members of the Frein family painted a dark picture of Frein's father, claiming he is a narcissistic bully whose anti-government rhetoric planted the seeds for what his son did.Thankfully, the jury did not buy it, and, after finding him guilty last week of first-degree murder and other charges, the jurors took less than five hours before returning the death penalty verdict.As for the financial toll of Frein's actions, they are sobering. Toward the end of last year, the Pike County Commissioners increased taxes in anticipation of the costs of the trial this year. The commissioners of this northeastern Pennsylvania county of 56,000 adjacent to the New York state border set aside $250,000 in a reserve fund for the trial. Some estimates indicate the real cost of sequestering jurors, police protection and other services could be in the $1 million range.But that is just a fraction of the cost, not only to Pike taxpayers, but to every single taxpayer in Pennsylvania and the United States. Following the troopers' ambush, Frein led law-enforcement officials on a 48-day manhunt in the Poconos before his capture by federal marshals on Oct. 30, 2014, in an airplane hangar 3 miles from Tannersville, Monroe County.State police spent an estimated $12 million on the investigation - $10.5 million for personnel expenses, including overtime, and $1.5 million for operations. This does not include costs of other law-enforcement officials, such as the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, police in adjacent states and local police.Also not calculated are the costs associated with the disruption of businesses, closing of schools and other dislocations and inconveniences. The Pocono Mountain School District was closed for four days because of the manhunt. Full-time personnel were paid during the shutdown. Pocono resorts suffered because of lost business through reservation cancellations.The costs don't stop here. There is an automatic appeal in death-penalty cases. Each prisoner in Pennsylvania costs taxpayers about $43,000 a year, according to a New York Times study in 2016. Those on death row usually have additional costs associated with their incarceration.Whether Frein will ever be put to death is uncertain.The last execution took place in Pennsylvania in 1999, and one of the first things Gov. Tom Wolf did when he took office in 2015 was declare a moratorium on the death penalty until a commission he appointed studies the pros and cons of the issue.The commission is still fact-finding the issue.By Bruce Frassinelli |

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